Sen. Bob Corker backed down Wednesday from a hold he had placed on an aviation bill in an effort to protect FedEx.

Laura Herzog, Corker's press secretary, said the Tennessee Republican lifted the hold on the FAA Reauthorization Act "since it appears the controversial FedEx provision will not be included in the final Senate legislation." She later said that meant the provision -- which would make it easier for certain FedEx Express employees to form unions -- won't be added to the Senate bill by amendment.

FedEx spokesman Maury Lane said Wednesday night that "we are encouraged by this development and look forward to the Tennessee senators' success with this gravely serious issue."

In a day full of drama, Corker's staff met with tearful families of victims of a plane crash near Buffalo, N.Y., last year who came to town to urge passage of a bill that would raise the safety standards for regional airlines such as Memphis-based Pinnacle.
Corker lifted his hold as the meeting with victims' families was breaking up, but it remained unclear if or how much their high-profile and emotionally wrenching opposition led to his decision.
Before the families' meeting with Corker's chief of staff Todd Womack, Robin Tolsma of Buffalo, whose husband died on Flight 3407, expressed the group's frustration.
"My husband always had this saying: 'Do the right thing even when no one is looking,'" she said. "It's time for the senator to do the right thing because now everyone is looking."
Jennifer West, whose husband, Ernie, died in the crash, said a Corker staffer told her that FedEx would be "devastated" if the labor provision of a House bill that FedEx is trying to kill made it into law.
"That really infuriated me because I thought 'devastated?' Talk to me about devastation. Everyone in this room is devastated. My 3-year-old daughter is devastated because she doesn't have a daddy anymore," West said.
Kevin Kuwik, an Ohio State basketball coach whose career started at Christian Brothers University in Memphis and whose girlfriend was killed in the crash, said delaying public safety over one company's concerns was "ludicrous."
"Essentially, what this says is that Tennessee is more important than the other 49 states," he said. "It's why people are frustrated with Washington."
Some of the Flight 3407 family members said they were told that Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., had arranged for the 60 votes needed to overcome Corker's hold.